Win NT anomaly

[Carl Distefano CLDistefano@xxxxxxxx]

Say, is anyone here running XyWrite under Windows NT? I fired up
Xy4 today for the first time on an NT workstation hooked up to a
network, and observed the following:

If I "shell" to DOS (by issuing Xy's DOS command from the CMline),
then issue the VER command at the DOS prompt, the OS returns
"Windows NT Version 4". However, if I issue DOS /C VER > VER.TMP
(that is, redirect the output of VER to a file, right from the
CMline), then CAll VER.TMP, the file reads "MS-DOS Version
5.00.500". Wha?

Note that redirection to a file isn't the problem. If I command
VER > VER.TMP at the DOS prompt (after shelling out from Xy),
VER.TMP contains "NT Version 4". The difference seems to turn on
whether DOS is invoked from the CMline or not.

I have no problem with NT running DOS v5, if that's what it's doing
(I liked DOS 5, a relatively small, stable DOS). But I'm not
pleased that NT seems to be able to hide itself from XyWrite,
disguised as DOS 5. And I'm mystified as to how it can happen at
all (putting aside for a moment the provenance of the OS). Surely
DOS and DOS /C are both invoking the same COMMAND.COM. So why the
disparity? Anyone have a clue what's going on here? Further, is
"MS-DOS Version 5.00.500" peculiar to NT, or is there a freestanding
DOS 5 that also bears that version number? (If the former, that
would be another way of "smoking out" NT within Xy.)

This anomaly aside, Xy4 ran fast and smooth under NT. None of the
sloth and unresponsiveness of DOS apps under NT that I've read so
much about in the trade press.

--------------
Carl Distefano
CLDistefano@xxxxxxxx
http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/